HOOKEM BY NAME, HOOKEM BY NATURE, AS UKIP EXPLODES: UKIP MEPs were supposed to be “clearing the air” after the drama of Diane James’ resignation as party leader. Instead Steven Woolfe (a party leadership contender) and Mike Hookem — last seen taking vigilante action against migrants trying to enter the U.K. via the Channel tunnel — ended up outside the meeting room, and allegedly in a punch-up. Around an hour later, Woolfe collapsed and suffered two seizures on one of the European Parliament’s internal bridges. UKIP leader Nigel Farage confirmed to reporters that politics was at the heart of the incident.

John Stevens for the Daily Mail, visited Woolfe at his bedside, where he re-capped the shocking scenes of the previous hours. A spokesperson for Hookem denied he had thrown a punch. Contrary to media reports, Strasbourg police told POLITICO they had not been called to the Parliament and were not investigating the matter. Woolfe was well enough to issue a media statement by mid-afternoon Thursday but stayed overnight in hospital for further tests. The full story: http://politi.co/2dHd1g

Image of the day: Steven Woolfe splayed on the floor of a European Parliament passage after the altercation: http://bit.ly/2dOfIJQ

Election fever: Also today are elections in Morocco (analysis here), elections in Georgia Saturday (a view from the EPP-linked Martens Center), and in Lithuania on Sunday. European Parliament’s interns are also electing a new committee.

Election relief: Slovakian Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajčák was an awkward candidate to lead the United Nations, evidenced by his unwillingness to even tell Playbook or others why he was running for the job. Lajčák sounded subdued Thursday, telling an Atlantic Council audience he was “honestly, more relieved than disappointed. I’m happy it’s over.”

**A message from the EPP Group: Manfred Weber was strong in denouncing European far-right parties’ links to the Kremlin in a speech that called for the end of bloodshed perpetrated by Assad and Putin in Syria. He called on EU leaders to seriously discuss EU’s future relationship to Russia. Check out more on this topic, as well as the report on the historic day when the EP ratified the first ever binding global climate change deal.**

THE WOMEN WHO SHAPE BRUSSELS — A NEW POWER LIST BY POLITICO: The list covers 35 women making an impact in Brussels policy and politics.

The top entry is a collective one: The women running the top lobbying firms in Brussels, as founders, CEOs or chairs — a sector of the Brussels political scene where women dominate.

Second on the list is Margrethe Vestager, the EU’s competition and antitrust supremo.

Third is EU Panel Watch, the activist watchdog founded by Marika Andersen and Laurel Henning, both still in their twenties, and monitoring the frequent all-male panels in Brussels.

Other notables: Six of the 18 individual entries and seven of the 17 women from collective entries have British roots. That has Playbook wondering whether the trend will last after Brexit. Five entries are from women running NGOs, and there are no entries from law firms, partly as a result of the fact that many don’t have a single female partner.

A special mention for Finland, the only country that sends women as all three of its EU ambassadors. Finland’s NATO ambassador and EU spokesperson are also female.

HIGH LEVEL EU-RUSSIA MEETING: The day after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s visit to Brussels, amid escalating Syria tensions and debates about the effectiveness of the EU’s sanctions against Russia, high-level diplomats from both sides met Thursday in Brussels to talk things over. EU national governments did not appear to factor in the discussions. Read the agenda and the guest list here: http://politi.co/2dvajdO

The event was co-hosted by the European Union Institute for Security Studies, an internal think tank set up as an agency of the EU, and the Russian International Affairs Council, a body set up in 2010 by the Russian government. The latest blog entry by the head of the council, Andrey Kortunov, reveals a fear that Islam will crush Christianity in coming decades.

FOUR TIMES AS MUCH COVERAGE OF FIFA ELECTION AS UN ELECTION: This week’s findings from Media Tenor show the United Nations leadership election was effectively a non-event in the global media, undermining attempts by female candidates to create momentum for a gender breakthrough. See the data here: http://politi.co/2dNkWXc

GLOBAL AIRLINE EMISSIONS BREAKTHROUGH: The International Civil Aviation Organization’s 191 members agreed Thursday to a global market-based system to offset emissions from airlines and cap them from 2020, starting as a voluntary system in 2021 and becoming mandatory for all countries except the poorest and least developed in 2027.

Here’s the final document on the global market measure: http://bit.ly/2dxOsBK and the one on other climate change plans: http://bit.ly/2cUYGOn. The news of the deal was broken to Transport Commissioner Violeta Bulc while she was briefing POLITICO on the state of play. “The most important thing is to get a deal, then we can work on technical talks,” said Bulc, who led the EU’s delegation during the first few days of the ICAO assembly. h/t Joshua Posaner.

EUROPEAN BORDER GUARD — MENDING BROKEN FENCES: Florian Eder says the new agency represents a “rare display of European consensus on migration.” The border guard will have 1,000 employees by 2020 and a budget of €320 million — double the current budget of its predecessor, Frontex. It will draw from a rapid-reserve pool of at least 1,500 guards. http://politi.co/2dOmfUY

The timetable for border results:

November 2016: Identify the gaps and vulnerabilities in the EU’s borders.December 2016: Rapid reaction pool and the rapid reaction equipment pool become operational, 50 new recruits to the agency arrive.January 2017: Return pools become operational.

COMMISSION — KROES TO BE PROBED BY ETHICS PANEL: The former competition commissioner (and a former employer of Playbook’s Ryan Heath) previously pledged she would fully cooperate. http://politi.co/2dHr3iG

TRADE — BREXIT’S TOUGHEST BATTLEGROUND IS THE WTO: The U.K. faces a huge challenge: crafting trade terms with the more than 160 members of the World Trade Organization. “Britain’s trade terms depend on so many factors outside London’s control that they are impossible to steer from Westminster … Britain separated from the EU could find itself isolated and hard pressed by countries such as India and Bangladesh to give up paying farmers EU-level subsidies … it will face the EU’s standard tariffs for goods under WTO rules after it leaves the single market. These … are alarmingly high for British industry.” Alberto Mucci, Simon Marks and Christian Oliver: http://politi.co/2dOT3hA

TRADE — FINAL EU-CANADA DRAFT SENT TO EU GOVERNMENTS: The European Commission and the Canadian government sent their joint declaration on a landmark trade deal to EU countries late Wednesday in a bid to allay their remaining concerns about the agreement. Senior trade representatives of EU countries will first discuss the EU-Canada joint declaration today. In the meantime the Irish senate has rejected the deal in a non-binding vote. Hans von der Burchard has the declaration here: http://politi.co/2dwVK8C

TRADE — BELGIAN MINISTER ORDERED BACK FROM HARVARD COURSE BY PM: Belgium’s trade minister, Pieter de Crem, was off at a Harvard management course in the middle of one of the most fractious periods of debate on trade in the EU’s history … until Prime Minister Charles Michel ordered him back to Belgium to do his job. For Trade Pros: http://politi.co/2dPfulO

JUNCKER TO OPEN ACADEMIC YEAR AT COLLEGE OF EUROPE, BRUGES: The opening ceremony of the 67th academic year of the College of Europe in Bruges takes place in the concert hall November 8 at 11 a.m. http://bit.ly/2dHdCz1

HOW EUROPE REACTED TO MAY’S NEW CONSERVATISM: According to Eurotopics, European publications believe Britain is sealing itself off, Prime Minister Theresa May is flirting with protectionism and nationalism, and is fishing for votes: http://bit.ly/2dHcpaU

HOW THE UK REACTED TO MAY’S NEW CONSERVATISM:

The Daily Telegraph: “Mrs May was employing the post-truth politics of Donald Trump.” http://bit.ly/2cVRTz0

The Independent: Theresa May’s vision for Brexit will ignite a war between British capitalism and British Conservatism, by Denis MacShane: http://ind.pn/2dHpVeG

LABOUR REACTED BY RESHUFFLING ITS SHADOW CABINET: Diane Abbott will be the new shadow home secretary. http://politi.co/2dCmB2F

STAT DU JOUR — 10 DONORS FUNDED MOST OF LEAVE CAMPAIGN: Over half the money donated to groups campaigning for Britain to leave the European Union was donated by just 10 individuals or companies, according to Transparency International U.K. The report: http://bit.ly/2dCUSPp

IRELAND — BRITS RUSH FOR IRISH PASSPORTS: A total of 21,549 Brits applied for Irish citizenship from July to September this year, up 96 percent from the same period in 2015. Hortense Goulard http://politi.co/2dHdeRj

VISEGRAD FOUR — THE TIES THAT DON’T BIND: If 2015 showed how the leading countries of central Europe could work together to maximize their power, 2016 is showing the limits. Henry Foy and Andrew Byrne: http://on.ft.com/2dW3LD3

POLAND — WARSAW’S HEAVY METAL WOES: “Polish diplomats are up in arms. North and West African countries are worried. Russian businessmen are rubbing their hands. The issue: a technical debate over proposed EU limits on the levels of a heavy metal in mineral fertilizers,” reports Giulia Paravicini. “The proposal … has unexpectedly snowballed into one of the bloc’s most sensitive geopolitical dossiers, with Poland leading an open rebellion against an effort that threatens to destabilize strategic relations with Africa and increase the Continent’s dependence on Russian exports.” http://politi.co/2drwZLh

CENTRAL EUROPE REINS IN RIGHT-WING REVOLUTIONARIES: “Jarosław Kaczyński and Viktor Orbán aren’t used to losing — but that’s just what the two Central European leaders have done over the last week,” reports Jan Cienski. “Both losses are the result of grass-roots organization, in which civic groups teamed up with previously disorganized opposition parties to hand defeats to leaders used to bulldozing their opponents. It’s a sign that both men — close allies, united in populist policies, Euroskepticism and hostility to migrants — may have overreached, and are now facing serious domestic pushback.” http://politi.co/2dwQqpa

FOCUS ON CZECH REPUBLIC … Speaking with Czech EU officials Thursday, Playbook was struck by the feeling the Czechs believe they are at a crossroads in Europe: neither new nor old, not always north, central, east or south, proud of their country but also attached to the Visegrad Group. Whatever the label, expect to hear more from Czechs as the Polish government sidelines itself, opening up a space for Czech voices in the center of EU debates.

DID YOU KNOW? Both house of the Czech parliament are among the most active contributors to EU legislative debates, via their respective EU committees. The European commissioner from the Czech Republic, Věra Jourová, will meet both committees and the Czech government again in two weeks, as a follow-up to Jean-Claude Juncker’s State of the Union address.

RUSSIAN INFLUENCE ON CZECHS … NEW ZDF DOCUMENTARY: “Kremlin, the political regime in Russia and its allies in Europe try to create the impression that Europe on its own is not united. They try to destroy the unity and integrity of NATO and the European Union,” says Jakub Janda from the European Values think tank, who spoke to ZDF about disinformation projects in the Czech Republic. Watch the whole documentary here: http://bit.ly/2dN3qCx

ROMANIA — PM WON’T STAND IN ELECTIONS: Dacian Cioloş, a former commissioner and Romania’s technocrat prime minister, confirmed he would not stand in the country’s parliamentary elections December 11. http://bit.ly/2dvg7nN

US 2016 …

As eastern states prepare for Hurricane Matthew, the presidential race will be largely frozen until the next debate, costing Trump valuable free media space and time he would otherwise be spending trying to catch up with Hillary Clinton.

Next debate Monday: The second presidential debate will take place October 9 at Washington University in St. Louis, from 3 a.m. Brussels time. It will last 90 minutes in a town hall format.

Must watch: ‘Playground bully.’An election ad by an anti-Trump group casting the Republican candidate as a child. http://bit.ly/2dHdD6i

What happened to Trump’s many business ventures? NYT’s Steve Eder and Alicia Parlapiano on how dozens of businesses fared after their initial hype: http://nyti.ms/2dMPEQi

ANNIVERSARY: Notre Europe, the think tank founded by Jacques Delors, celebrated last night (and also today) its 20th anniversary, with guests including Delors himself, Jean-Claude Juncker and French President François Hollande.

**A message from the EPP Group: We believe Mustafa Dzhemilev is the person most deserving to be honored with the 2016 Sakharov Prize. The leader of the Crimean Tatars has dedicated his whole life to a non-violent struggle in defense of human and minority rights, freedom of speech and personal dignity. By standing against the invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, Dzhemilev challenged Soviet totalitarianism. He intervened in the defense of other human rights defendants, held the longest hunger strike in the history of human rights movements and recently, as a result of his pro-Ukraine position, Russia again banned him from entering occupied Crimea. The price Dzemilev paid for his human rights activities was more than 15 years in the Soviet ‘gulag’ and most of his life in exile. Today, at 73 years old, he stands with Ukraine and continues to risk his life serving the cause of civil freedoms and human rights. This is why the EPP Group is proud to support him as a candidate.**